Main
Connor M. French
Education
PhD Candidate, Biology- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
New York, New York
City University of New York
current - 2018
- Population genetic patterns and processes from local to global scales
M.S., Zoology
Carbondale, Illinois
Southern Illinois University
2018 - 2016
- Systematics, phylogeography, and landscape genetics of the Ameerega petersi group (family Dendrobatidae)
- Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab
B.S., Biology- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
Austin, Texas
University of Texas
2015 - 2011
- Includes coursework from the University of North Texas
Research Experience
Graduate Research Assistant
Michael J. Hickerson Lab
City University of New York
current - 2018
- Investigating evolutionary responses to environmental change across spatial scales.
Graduate Research Assistant
Jason L. Brown Lab
Southern Illinois University
2018 - 2016
- Completed thesis work on the evolution of Andean poison frogs.
Research Assistant
Texas Biodiversity Collections
University of Texas
2016 - 2016
- Herpetology Division
- Supported data collection and collections management for conservation efforts.
Undergraduate Researcher
Daniel I. Bolnick Lab
University of Texas
2014 - 2013
- Completed an independent project through the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates. Experimental design, field work in British Columbia, lab work, data analysis, and first-author publication.
Undergraduate Researcher
David Cannatella Lab
University of Texas
2014 - 2013
- Field work in support of frog acoustic research.
Field Technician
Middlesex, Belize
Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society
2014 - 2014
- Designed and executed field protocols for monitoring amphibian populations.
Collections Assistant
Texas Biodiversity Collections
University of Texas
2014 - 2014
- Ichthyology Division
- Collected and analyzed fish morphometric data for taxonomic research and digitized research collections.
Teaching Experience
Ecology and Evolution
CCNY Biology Department
New York, NY
2022 - 2022
- TA, BIO 228
- Led and prepared labs.
R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis
Columbia University
New York, NY
2021 - 2021
- Invited workshop.
- Half-day online workshop as part of the Pre-Statistics Course Bootcamp.
- Facilitated by Software Carpentries.
Introduction to Text Analysis in R
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2021 - 2021
- 1.5 hour online workshop for CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students.
- Hosted on rstudio.cloud.
- Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows.
Digital Research Institute
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2021 - 2020
- Five day series of workshops introducing CUNY faculty and students to digital tools for research.
- Two sessions- one in January 2020 and one in February 2021.
- Led the R track.
Reproducible Data Analysis in R
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2020 - 2020
- 2.5 hour workshop on using RMarkdown and github for reproducible data analysis.
- Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
- Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows
Data Visualization in R
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2020 - 2020
- 2.5 hour workshop on using ggplot2 for data visualization.
- Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
- Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows
Exploring population structure in R with adegenet and sNMF
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2020 - 2020
- 1.5 hour online workshop given to an international group of evolutionary biology faculty and graduate students as part of the four day Bioinformatics Bootcamp for Ecology and Evolution.
Introduction to R and RStudio
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2020 - 2020
- Two hour online workshop for CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students.
- Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows.
Introduction to population structure inference in R
SIUC Zoology Department
Carbondale, IL
2019 - 2019
- Invited workshop.
- Two hour workshop for Zoology graduate and undergraduate students.
Introductory R and RStudio
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2019 - 2019
- Invited workshop.
- 1.5 hour workshop for graduate students in the Quantitative Zoogeography graduate course.
Bioinformatic processing of ultraconserved elements for phylogenetic analysis
SIUC Zoology Department
Carbondale, IL
2019 - 2019
- Two hour workshop to introduce graduate students to a bioinformatic pipeline.
SLiM 5-day workshop
CUNY Biology Department
New York, NY
2019 - 2019
- Co-organized five full-day workshop on SLiM population genetic simulation program
Data Wrangling in R
CUNY Graduate Center
New York, NY
2019 - 2019
- 2.5 hour workshop on using the tidyverse for data manipulation.
- Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
- Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows
BioSkills
SIUC Biology Department
Carbondale, IL
2018 - 2017
- TA, BIO 212
- Co-developed material for new writing and discussion-based course section.
- Concurrently ran ecology and developmental biology sections.
Introduction to Evolution and Ecology Lab
SIUC Biology Department
Carbondale, IL
2017 - 2017
- TA, BIO 212
- Led and prepared labs.
Vertebrate Anatomy Lab
SIUC Zoology Department
Carbondale, IL
2017 - 2017
- TA, ZOOL 418
- Led and prepared labs.
- Advised undergraduate lab assistant.
Reptile and amphibian survey and capture techniques
SIUC Zoology Department
Carbondale, IL
2017 - 2017
- Invited lecture, Curation of Collections (PLB 401).
- One hour lecture on best practices for herpetological surveys.
Appropriate techniques for identifying and handling reptiles and amphibians in the field.
SIUC Zoology Department
Carbondale, IL
2017 - 2017
- Invited lecture, SIUC Wildlife Techniques (ZOOL 469).
- One hour lecture and field demonstration on best practices for herpetological surveys.
Introductory Biology for Non-Majors Lab
SIUC Zoology Department
Carbondale, IL
2016 - 2016
- TA, ZOOL 115
- Led and prepared labs.
Instructor
Camp Einstein Afterschool STEM Program
Austin, TX
2016 - 2016
- Summer afterschool program for early elementary school students.
Biostatistics
UT Biology Department
Austin, TX
2015 - 2014
- Undergraduate TA
- Assisted graduate TA with leading and grading R programming labs, and facilitating course discussion.
Selected Writing
Sonification for Data Communication
N/A
New York, NY
2021
- Post introducing the concept of sonification, its uses, and its benefits.
RStudio Cloud for Education
N/A
New York, NY
2020
- Post outlining the advantages of using the RStudio Cloud system for teaching.
Funding sources for undergraduate research in ecology and evolution
N/A
New York, NY
2020
- Post highlighting funding resources for undergraduate research
PDIG Training Grant Spotlight: Connor French
N/A
New York, NY
2019
- Overview of a project I used the Provost’s Digital Innovation Grant to prepare for.
Interactively explore geographic data in R using leaflet
N/A
New York, NY
2019
- Walk through of creating an interactive map in R.
Preprints
Global determinants of the distribution of insect genetic diversity
bioRxiv. 10.1101/2022.02.09.479762
N/A
2022
- French, C.M., Bertola, L.D., Carnaval, A.C., Economo, E.P., Kass, J.M., Lohman, D.J., Marske, K.A., Meier, R., Overcast, I., Rominger, A.J., Staniczenko, P., Hickerson, M.J.
Publications
Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of the Amazonian poison frog genus Ameerega using ultraconserved genomic elements
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 142, 106638.
N/A
2020
- Wilson, G.X., French, C.M., Twomey, E.M., Chávez, G., Prates, I, von May, R., la Riva, I.D., Lötters, S., Reichle, S., Serrano-Rojas, S.J., Whitworth, A., Brown, J.L.
Morphological correlates of invasion in Florida cane toad (Rhinella marina) populations: Shortening of legs and reduction in leg asymmetry as populations become established
Acta Oecologica. 109, 103652
N/A
2020
- Rubio, A.O., French, C.M., Catenazzi, A.
Speciation with introgression: Phylogeography and systematics of the Ameerega petersi group (Dendrobatidae).
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 138, 31-42.
N/A
2019
- French, C.M., Deutsch, M.S., Chávez G., Almora C.E., Brown, J.L.
The tadpole of Ameerega boehmei in southeastern Bolivia
Zootaxa. 4661, 1.
N/A
2019
- French, C.M., Burkette, C., Reichle, S., Brown, J.L.
Geographical variation in colour of female threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).
PeerJ. 6:e4807.
N/A
2018
- French, C.M., Ingram, T., and Bolnick, D.I.
Rana juliani. Vocalization.
Mesoamerican Herpetology. 4(1). pp. 170.
N/A
2017
- French, C.M., Kilborn, V., and Jäger, K.L.
Diadophis punctatus regalis (Regal Ringneck Snake). DIET.
Herpetological Review. 48(2). pp. 448.
N/A
2017
- French, C.M.
SDMtoolbox 2.0: the next generation python-based: GIS toolkit for landscape genetic, biogeographic and species distribution model analyses.
PeerJ. 5:e4095.
N/A
2017
- Brown, J.L., Bennett, J., and French, C.M.
Talks and Posters
Determinants of the global distribution of genetic diversity in terrestrial insects
New York Species Distribution Modeling Discussion Group
N/A
2021
- French, C.M.
- Invited presentation
Comparative phylogeography of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest leaf litter lizards (genus Enyalius)
World Congress of Herpetology
N/A
2020
- French, C.M., Damasceno, R., Rodrigues, M., Carnaval, A.C., Hickerson, M.J.
- Oral presentation
Using genetics to understand species responses to climate change
New York City College of Technology- Systematics Undergraduate Course
N/A
2020
- French, C.M.
- Invited presentation
A dynamic history in the Tropical Andes: phylogeography and systematics of the Ameerega petersi group (Dendrobatidae)
Evolution
N/A
2019
- French, C.M., and Brown, J.L.
- Oral presentation
Predicting global insect genetic diversity
Evolution
N/A
2019
- French, C.M., Bertola, L., Hickerson, M.J.
- Poster presentation
Climate-driven diversification in a clade of Peruvian poison frogs
Evolution
N/A
2017
- French, C.M., Brown, J.L.
- Oral presentation
Climate fluctuation as a driver of diversification in a clade of Peruvian poison frogs
Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
N/A
2017
- French, C.M., Brown, J.L.
- Oral presentation
Morphological divergence among multiple Notropis oxyrhynchus populations
American Fisheries Society
N/A
2015
- French, C.M.
- Poster presentation
Morphological assessment of hybridization between two ranid species, Lithobates juliani and L. vaillanti
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
N/A
2015
- French, C.M.
- Oral presentation
Peer Review
Journal of Biogeography, Biotropica, Environmental Biology of Fishes, Molecular Ecology
N/A
N/A
N/A
Awards and Honors
Graduate Center Digital Fellowship
City University of New York
N/A
2021 - 2019
- $56,250
- $28,125/year
Helen and Frederick Gaige Fund
American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology
N/A
2020
- $900
Provost’s Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship for the Sciences
City University of New York
N/A
2020
- $5,000
Student Scholarship
World Congress of Herpetology
N/A
2020
- $940
Graduate Research Excellence Grant RC Lewontin Early Award
Society for the Study of Evolution
N/A
2019
- $2,300
Charles & Florence Foote Teaching Award in Zoology
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2018
- $750
Biodiversity Under Environmental Change Seed Grant
City College of New York
N/A
2018
- $2,500
Digital Initiatives Training Grant
City University of New York
N/A
2018
- $500
Zoology Graduate Student Association Travel Award
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2017
- $100
Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab Featured Graduate Student
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2017
Undergraduate Research Fellowship
University of Texas at Austin
N/A
2015
- $1,000
University Honors
University of Texas at Austin
N/A
2014
General Education Scholarship
University of North Texas
N/A
2012 - 2011
- $6,000
Dean’s List
University of North Texas
N/A
2012
Mentorship
Undergraduate Diversity at Evolution
Evolution Meeting
N/A
2019
- Mentored two undergraduates attending their first conference
Krista Jäger
Dalhousie University
N/A
2017 - 2016
- Assisted honors thesis investigating ranid frog population genetics
- Co-authored natural history note on Rana juliani vocalization
Michael Deutsche
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2017
- Undergraduate assistant, learning lab techniques and experimental design in anuran morphometrics
- Senior project on poison frog call variation
- Co-authored resulting publication
Outreach
Predicting global insect diversity
Science Day
City College of New York
2019
- Invited oral presentation
Peru: where plan C comes first
Herpetology Club
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
2017
- Oral presentation
There and back again: divergence and convergence in poison frogs
Darwin Week
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
2017
- Invited oral presentation
Sightseers slither into southern Illinois for Snake Road
Daily Egyptian
N/A
2017
- Interview
Frog diversity and evolution
Kealing Middle School Magnet Program Zoology Club
N/A
2016
- Invited lecture
Frogs: weird wonders of the natural world
Lamar Fine Arts Academy Middle School
N/A
2016
- Invited lecture
Computational Workshops and Courses
Applied Machine Learning
R Studio Conference
Austin, TX
2019
- Workshop
Machine Learning for Scientists
City University of New York
N/A
2019
- Course
The Fundamentals of UX Research
City University of New York
N/A
2019
- Workshop
Genome Assembly and Annotation
American Museum of Natural History
N/A
2019
- Workshop
Analysis of Rad-Sequence Data (RadCamp)
Instituto de Biociências
Universidade de São Paulo
2018
- Workshop
Biostatistics
City University of New York
N/A
2018
- Course
Introduction to GIS
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2017
- Course
Quantitative Zoogeography
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2017
- Course
Intermediate Computational Statistics
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
N/A
2016
- Course
Biostatistics
University of Texas at Austin
N/A
2014
- Course
Intro to NGS Bioinformatics
University of Texas at Austin
N/A
2013
- Workshop
Affiliations
Society for the Study of Evolution
N/A
N/A
current - 2017
American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
N/A
N/A
current - 2017
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
N/A
N/A
current - 2015